Google is making local AI available to mainstream users ;)
Posted by jacek2023@reddit | LocalLLaMA | View on Reddit | 87 comments
and they are not happy for some reason
screenslaver5963@reddit
The climate costs are less than continuing to use data centers.
Ayvah01@reddit
Running AI on a data centre is much more energy efficient than running it on your local machine.
Especially if you have older hardware.
muety11@reddit
Is that actually true? I'd be genuinely interesting in seeing a comparison on this. Data centers (at least the hyperscalers) come with the big benefit of operating at super high efficiency / PUE.
amunozo1@reddit
That is like the less concerning reason of all, I'm amazed that it's in the headline of a news.
Main-Lifeguard-6739@reddit
read the article. figure out its slop.
check your systems. figure out its slop.
it's the same person who spread articles yesterday. this person shows that it has no clue about technological, legal, or climate matters. yet the person writes about all of them.
jacek2023@reddit (OP)
I just typed: "Google Chrome 4GB" in the search bar
Main-Lifeguard-6739@reddit
ok... and now?
ElChupaNebrey@reddit
Chrome is new Ollama lol, rumors say it's Gemini nano? Anybody already tested it? Is it good? Whatz the speed?
combrade@reddit
Why would anyone here support this? The whole point of local inference is that there's privacy, there's transparency. It's not a black box. We can set our own parameters and prompts.
la2eee@reddit
That's not the only "whole point". It's free when running local, not calculating the energy. THAT'S important.
Mentiorus@reddit
also not counting the hardware đ„č
That said, being tied to a subscription that they can up-charge you once you've built stuff dependent on it, is not a place many of us would want to be.
Pro-editor-1105@reddit
"you can't delete" and "silently" are probably the reasons why they don't like it.
mikael110@reddit
As well as the 4GB part. It's easy for many to forget, but there's lots of users in the world with really crappy or limited internet where a 4GB download is a massive deal. On top of the myriad of low end computer devices where 4GB will consume a massive amount of the total storage available.
ProfessionalDish@reddit
4GB is also quite a lot of storage, plus it will go into my backup, which also takes up space.
ImaginationKind9220@reddit
Especially in 3rd world countries, they still use 5.6K dialup. The Chrome update will take over a week.
edsonmedina@reddit
Suhapek@reddit
You can literally open a wiki page and see, that dialup is still used in 175K households in US alone
Karyo_Ten@reddit
Thirdworld countries skipped the dialup phase and even ADSL. Much cheaper to use 4G everywhere.
magnomagna@reddit
That's not even the worst part. In order to run it, all 4 GB probably has to be copied over to the RAM, the memory.
Moist-Length1766@reddit
i doubt anyone who for 4GB is a lot of storage to is using Chrome.
therapy-cat@reddit
Most people have 8gb of ram on the random laptop they bought at Walmart
jashAcharjee@reddit
Agreed
la2eee@reddit
why?
mikael110@reddit
You'd be surprised. Working in support I've seen Chrome installed on all kinds of hardware, including the cheapest tablet style laptops imaginable. Chrome has just become the browser every casual user recommends these days, even when the device is really not up to it.
Moist-Length1766@reddit
the 4gb AI model is not downloaded on mobile devices, we're talking about computers
agro_arbor@reddit
Chrome is the number 1 browser, with like 70% market share
Moist-Length1766@reddit
irrelevant to my point
NeedsSomeSnare@reddit
Regardless of the 4gb download, I don't want my web browser to be using 4gb of my system ram in the background even when I have 10 tabs open!
therapy-cat@reddit
Yeah wtf, this is the biggest issue. Does anyone know if this is actually the case?
Fabulous-Possible758@reddit
Actually the model is going to handle all the other parts of Chrome now so itâll cut memory usage by a factor of 10.
mcslender97@reddit
They could've done a better job advertising it
HelloWorldComputing@reddit
And a lot of battery charge when used.
Vas1le@reddit
"you can't delete" - we can, just delte the old file and put a dummy one instead
danigoncalves@reddit
I wonder what they are cooking, like 4GB in a good quantitization its like a 7/9B model. its a very capable model for doing a huge kind of things in the browser
VoiceApprehensive893@reddit
GGUF when?
danigoncalves@reddit
underrated đ
andy_potato@reddit
I am a strong supporter of Local AI and also WebAI. But this just sucks.
Icy_Concentrate9182@reddit
Why?
Spezisasackofshit@reddit
Plenty of reasons;
4 gigs is a lot to shove on user devices. Especially from a browser.
Assuming it's being used regularly that will crank Chromes RAM use higher than ever, and it was already bad.
Many of the benefits of local AI dont apply since it's just Google offloading the job to your machine. In fact now you're just paying for Google's AI features with your energy bill and component wear.
But hey if it's truly local (and isn't reporting everything it does back to hq) or enables more privacy and allows your browser to handle some of the actual useful AI features of chrome without server calls that's great.
Plus I use Firefox so đ€·
Dany0@reddit
Once upon a time I was negotiating a contract and received an LG phone with the Facebook app installed on it. I don't have Facebook, I never used Facebook, I will never use Facebook
You couldn't remove it. I owned the phone, but LG decided I can't use part of my phone's memory. Waste of silicon. Why? For what reason? If I was interested in using the app, I would've kept it. But if I want to delete the app â I'm never going to use it in the first place. It's just there to grind my gears
So I connected the phone to adb and removed it forcefully. It would then, at random times, throw an error about Facebook app not being available. Fuck them to death. I'm glad they exited the market
If someone doesn't want a 4 fucking GIGABYTE FILE ON THEIR PHONE THEY SHOULD BE ABLE TO DELETE IT
How dense do you have to be to not understand this? Or are you a Mixture of Enshittification type of architecture?
artgallery69@reddit
They're installing the model as part of the chrome bundle, if you don't like it you could just get rid of chrome. Why is that so difficult?
iKilledChuckNorris@reddit
This was never the deal
Macestudios32@reddit
It's one thing to use an AI that can perfectly be in a box or go out to look at the internet, to install a two-way AI, input, output from your device and google servers. This is not about being anti or pro-AI but about control and privacy.
Dany0@reddit
Once upon a time I was negotiating a contract and received an LG phone with the Facebook app installed on it. I don't have Facebook, I never used Facebook, I will never use Facebook
You couldn't remove it. I owned the phone, but LG decided I can't use part of my phone's memory. Waste of silicon. Why? For what reason? If I was interested in using the app, I would've kept it. But if I want to delete the app â I'm never going to use it in the first place. It's just there to grind my gears
So I connected the phone to adb and removed it forcefully. It would then, at random times, throw an error about Facebook app not being available. Fuck them to death. I'm glad they exited the market
If someone doesn't want a 4 fucking GIGABYTE FILE ON THEIR PHONE THEY SHOULD BE ABLE TO DELETE IT
How dense do you have to be to not understand this? Or are you a Mixture of Enshittification type of architecture?
graypasser@reddit
Best Anti-AI propaganda I've ever seen.
Exciting-Mall192@reddit
I'm all for local LLM, but installing something people never asked for... and as big as 4GB which will eat up people's RAM even more than necessary? I don't even know why they're doing it?
Mickenfox@reddit
"The climate costs" do they usually care about the "climate costs" of Windows Update, YouTube or Netflix?Â
amunozo1@reddit
Or porn.
Due-Memory-6957@reddit
The whole of reddit is basically anti AI circlejerk
toothpastespiders@reddit
It's really wild sometimes. One of the subs I read has gotten borderline worthless because so many people are busy patting themselves on the back for saying "well at least it's not ai art".
ResidentPositive4122@reddit
r technology is basically a meme-level psyop gone rogue. The amount of hate, ludditism and anti progress rhetoric on that sub is absolutely insane. The anti-AI circlejerk is just a continuation of that trend. It reminds me of the anti-nucular rhetoric. Guess who would have had an interest that the west abandon their nuclear research and power-plants? Oh well...
Macestudios32@reddit
What does being pro or anti AI have to do with having something you haven't asked for shove down your throat? I am in favor of the police but not for them breaking into my house illegally. I'm in favor of doctors but not for them to cut off my arm just because. Well, this is the same, I can be in favor of AI or against it and it has nothing to do with a company putting in MY device what comes out of the.....&%âŹ&&
Due-Memory-6957@reddit
If anything, I see too much pro nuclear stuff on Reddit.
ResidentPositive4122@reddit
Yeah, now. After decades of anti-rhetoric. After people figured out that they got got. Look into who Gerhard Schröder was, and where he ended up working after dismantling all of Germany's nuclear power plants. All with "ample popular support".
Krowken@reddit
It was not Schröder but Merkel who dismantled all nuclear power plants. Schröder was already out of German politics when the decision was made. Do proper research or stop confidently claiming things.Â
ResidentPositive4122@reddit
Oh come on. I lived through those times, it's documented properly and literally what happened. Schroder had already implemented the plan to decomission everything. Merkel campaigned on reversing that trend. In her first term there were signs that she'll go through with either slowing down (which would have been enough to reach 2022 and not be as impacted by the war) or reversing. Then she needed the support to form a coalition and caved to the green demands, and agreed to stick to the original plan. And now we're here. Without nuclear, but with "popular support".
Krowken@reddit
Merkel II was a coalition of CDU/CSU and FDP and not the Green Party.Â
redballooon@reddit
Gerhard Schroeder has so many bindings to Russia that made him end up there, and he did not take the lead on abandoning nuclear power. That was the one thing where he led the Green Party have their wishes, and these were powered by Tchernobyl, not by Russian influence.
So many things went wrong with Gerhard Schroeder as chancellor, but this is a very weak point to build criticism on. Use others for reasons to dislike him.
And for Germany actually abandoning nuclear power, you must look into Merkel's era.
VoiceApprehensive893@reddit
anti AI circlejerk vs AI bros
Uncle___Marty@reddit
I hate where you see a post with AI and you ALWAYS see someone who took their own free time to watch something they KNEW was AI, then use even more of their time to click the post and reply "AI SLOP".
I dont even bother engaging with these fools but I sure as hell make sure I downvote them (as we all should be).
Icy_Concentrate9182@reddit
Ding ding ding. We got a winner.... We need to badly about AI blindly. I rather use it to my advantage but who am I to judge
kmouratidis@reddit
Which is funny, because Reddit had been feeding AI more and more, and is a good driver of its profitability.
NeedsSomeSnare@reddit
You're in the local ai sub, so no, not the whole of Reddit.
The frustration here is very real. You don't need to defend it just because it's AI.
0xB6FF00@reddit
this isn't even strictly about ai though, it's about chrome downloading an entire model in the background unprompted. not everyone wants their boot drives cluttered with trash.
anykeyh@reddit
Reddit skews heavily western, and the western model that used to run the world has been stumbling for the past 20 years and clearly losing its grip.
At the same time, working a regular job just doesn't cut it anymore. You've got people printing money off get-rich-quick schemes, staying out of trouble because now they can afford to, and meanwhile the middle class is quietly getting squeezed dry, and that's before AI and automation come for what's left.
Can you really blame them? Not everyone has the luxury of adapting on the fly like some of us do.
drycounty@reddit
Remember when they reneged on âdonât be evilâ lol
Does anyone know if enterprise is immune? Doubt it but just thought Iâd ask.
horserino@reddit
Any fact checking of that claim? A silent 4gb download of anything seems waaay far frtched, even for google.
TheCat001@reddit
I love AI and use AI but this forced me to uninstall Chrome and move to Hellium. Google Chrome was downloading not 4GB but more. It downloaded 7+GB and continued to download, maxing out my internet channel so that I cannot use internet. This behavior is not acceptable. I was trying to disable it but nothing helped. Looks like very shady practice from google, screw them.
Silver-Champion-4846@reddit
Never happened to me, but I guess there's nothing that says it can't. I guess I have God's mercy to thank for my downloads being proper, eh?
Low_Amplitude_Worlds@reddit
Good for you.
TheCat001@reddit
Probably your AI model already downloaded. And even if you reinstall Chrome, model still will be there on disk and Chrome won't download it again. But if you do a clean OS install, Chrome definataly gonna download AI model.
Silver-Champion-4846@reddit
Bro I don't even have the gemini feature. Maybe it's cooped up in the experimental flags somewhere?
randomrealname@reddit
Lol
MinusKarma01@reddit
The problem is installing ANYTHING without user consent. The climate part is just a hate train going blind.
NeedsSomeSnare@reddit
The climate part is absolutely valid. It might not be headline worthy, but it's not blind "hate"
LanangHussen@reddit
Sir.... Your personal device is not a giga datacenter, its like comparing crab apple to apple
Sound similiar but not the same but still part of the family
gwhiterabbit@reddit
Don't you install something without user consent every time an app adds a new feature?
ivkemilioner@reddit
Mac 256gb will die.
Hans_Meiser_Koeln@reddit
Just don't think about the "climate cost" of billions of gamers running their 400+ watts GPU to play $CURRENT_GAME for hours every day just for mindless entertainment, because that's not relevant at all.
HunterTheScientist@reddit
If you love local AI is probably because you can control it and decide what it's on your computer and what not.
This move by Google is exactly the opposite of that
viperx7@reddit
Maybe they want to offload the processing to user devices cause processing everypage every user visits ever on datacenters will be wildly expensive. And forcing users to do all the processing will will give them data they want and electricity cost can be offloaded to user..
So now you won't just be paying with your data but in electricity cost as well all the while they get to collect more precise data to sell to advertisers
Icy_Concentrate9182@reddit
This is where AI is going. A small local model that can do the day to day and the ability to connect to a larger cloud model when needed.
huldress@reddit
Glad I moved to Firefox, even after their little scuffle in recent years. Chrome took up way too much space.
--Spaci--@reddit
What model?
DarleneWhale@reddit
I deleted Chrome from all 3 of my computers. On one computer the file was actually 10GB, not 4.
jacek2023@reddit (OP)
I wonder is this Gemma
evilspyboy@reddit
My eyes are a bit tired today after being out late last night.... so I misread Google Chrome for George Clooney. Which I was wondering why he was installing a 4GB model on my device.
(Also I was a little aware of this already as I was trying out building an extension the other week to clean up my very badly to not at all organised bookmarks folders. I did not get too far as I found out this was coming and that it also was not available in Australia (where I am) yet to use. So I shelved it to come back to later. I believe this is for AU now too).